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My Little Adventure as a Winter Volunteer – Najwa (Malaysia)

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If you were to ask me what would be my biggest fear spending 3 months living at Our Chalet Switzerland, no doubt it would definitely be the snow. Coming from Malaysia which has a hot and humid weather throughout the year, snowy weather is definitely something new for me. It’s now been a month living here in Our Chalet and I am proud to say that cold weather is no longer a fear of mine. In fact, I am actually loving the snow and really can’t wait to try skiing and sledging!

Flashback to the first few days of my arrival in Our Chalet, I still remember the excitement we had when Tanya (Our World Centre Manager) passed us a map to Adelboden town. I have got to admit that map reading is definitely something I am not used to since where I come from which is Kuala Lumpur, everything is so near to each other, hence a map is not really needed. Growing up as a city girl, it also took me quite a while to adapt living in Adelboden mainly due to the different geographical layout of Adelboden and Kuala Lumpur. However, I think that making the decision to live in Our Chalet is by far one of the best decisions I have ever made in life. Ever since I came here, I have tried so many new things that I would never thought I would do such as cooking real meals and making tinders for the fire.
Yes, cooking! It may sound weird that I tried cooking but back in Malaysia we have 24/7 food stalls with such reasonable prices thus I do not really cook as the stalls or restaurants sell variety of food and they are easily accessible. But here in Our Chalet, each of the volunteers will surely be assigned to do dinner preparation where cooking is indeed required. Frankly, since being a volunteer here I now realised that I do enjoy cooking a lot and I have started to explore and try cooking many dishes be it Swiss meals or Asian meals.

Nonetheless, the Christmas celebration
with our dear neighbours and friends is one that I would cherish forever.
Having the chance to celebrate Christmas with the local people was
such a great experience as we got the chance to mingle and get to know more about the Swiss culture on celebrating Christmas. The one thing that I truly enjoy experiencing this festive season would be collecting pine cones as one of the many Christmas decorations besides decorating the Christmas tree with little cute ornaments from around the world.

Above all, I am really looking forward to spending time with all my new friends here from around the globe. Having the chance to know people from countries like Argentina, Ukraine, UK, America, Finland, Austria, Germany, Slovenia and Canada simultaneously has given me the opportunity to know more about their countries. Travelling around Switzerland also is at the top in my to-do list for the next 2 months. So far I have visited Bern, Lugano and Zurich during my days off and Lugano is by far my favourite place here in Switzerland. Hopefully, I shall be able to explore Geneva and Lucern in the near future especially going to the Kapellbrucke which has been a dream of mine since I was a kid. Living here at Our Chalet is indeed an opportunity of a lifetime and I would certainly recommend all the girls out there to unleash your potential here by giving back at Our Chalet.